An oddment sort of day

14Oct

I woke up this morning anticipating a very busy and chaotic morning. I had agreed to watch the son of a friend of mine. The boy’s just turned three, is both wonderful and also something of a force of nature (particularly when combined with my own three year old). I figured the morning would pass in ruckus and noise and I’d chase after them. (There are worse ways to spend the morning).

Instead, I wound up not watching him. And then Nathan wound up going off to live for the morning and part of the afternoon at the pet store, while his mom worked. Suddenly, I find myself with an empty house, some tea, and all sorts of writing to do. Unexpected, but there are worse things.

…

Last night, I wrote a thousand-plus words of the novel. They started out difficult, but by the end, the story was flowing and the language had settled down and I was having a blast. Those are actually the best days, because they teach you that it gets better if you just keep plugging away at it (just like you can learn that a run which starts with pain and lack of breath will turn out to be fun, once you hit your rhythm). I stopped last night, mid-sentence, knowing exactly what was happening next. Today, I’m itching to get back to it. Before I do, though, I’ve got an article to write.

Well, if we’re honest, I have a dozen articles to write…but I’m trying to pace myself. Instead of writing piles of articles each day, I’m trying to space them out a little more sanely and devote a little more time to the fiction. The novel right now, but some short stories, soon enough. I adore my non-fiction writing, but don’t feel I’m doing something useful and relevant if I’m not writing fiction. (The fact that I’m not sure anyone reads short stories anymore, and that they don’t seem to stay published for very long, doesn’t help that ephemeral feeling much, but what can you do).

…

My reading fixation, of late, has been Sherlock Holmes. Not just reading, of course. I keep re-watching and pouring through both the wonderful Benedict Cumberbatch BBC epiodes, and also the Robert Downey Jr. movie (I don’t have the second one, but want to re-watch it). I’m not sure what this fixation is for, or about, or where it’s going…but I don’t worry about it. I just assume that somewhere in the back of my head, gears are turning and something is working itself out.

Right now, I’m reading A Slight Trick of the Mind by Mitch Cullin, which is due to be a movie starring Ian McKellen soon. I’m looking forward to the film all the more because the book is excellent.

Enough chatter, and back to the book. I have shadowy monsters with too-long legs, moving unnaturally fast down a darkened street, coming after a woman who is stuck in a window. I guess I should go make something happen.